Clerks III is written and directed by Kevin Smith and is the ninth film in View Askewniverse, and picks up 15 years after Clerks II. The story revolves around Randal Graves surviving a heart attack and making a movie, with his best friend Dante Hicks, on their lives working at a convenience store.
If you are new to the View Askewniverse, check the other films:
- Clerks (1994)
- Mallrats (1995)
- Chasing Amy (1997)
- Dogma (1999)
- Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
- Clerks II (2006)
- Jay and Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie (2013)
- Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019)
Kevin Smith is one of my biggest inspirations in life. After I graduated high school I was pretty lost and really had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I worked at a movie theater and soon after that I worked in a video store. Being a video store clerk was really great, especially seeing all sorts of movie covers and wondering what that film was about and then venturing into many different genres of movies. Eventually I made my way to Kevin Smith flicks and discovering the wonderful world of the View Askewniverse. After finishing the series, I purchased the 10 year anniversary DVD of Clerks, and watched the making of documentary The Snowball Effect. Seeing Smith’s story on his life before Hollywood, going to film school, making Clerks, and then going into the festival circuit to try and get it sold is a really fun and interesting story in itself. But what stood out to me was the type of film school he went to. He attended the Vancouver Film School, which was only a one year program. The idea of going to a four year school for film always kind of bugged me and I didn’t have a whole lot of interest in that, however I was intrigued to hear of a film school that was only a year long. Which then lead to me going to a year and a half long film school in Los Angeles and pursuing that dream.
Going back, Clerks II (2006) ended on such a high note for me and really felt that movie left the View Askewniverse in such a happy place, with Dante and Randal buying the Quick Stop convenient store and running it themselves. I have always wanted to return to that universe, but didn’t at the same time. Back in 2019, Smith continued the series with Jay and Silent Bob Reboot and I thought it was a fun movie, but overall I was a little disappointed with it. So going into Clerks III, I was feeling a bit hesitant.
First off, this movie is incredibly meta, maybe even too meta, but it worked so well for me. Knowing a lot of the behind the scenes stories of Clerks and seeing how they made it into this movie as well as call backs to all this other movies/interests, insert *Degrassi theme song*, it just made the film such a fun and pleasurable experience. Also, having a little scene where they acknowledge the original ending Smith shot for Clerks back in 1993, where Dante is shot and killed at the end was great!
I have to mention that the trailer did not build my interest in returning to this world though. Seeing that Randal wanted to make a movie about their lives in a convenient store, which is exactly what Kevin Smith did with Clerks back in 1994. Smith always draws from his own experiences and I felt he did a spin on that exact story with his 2008 film, Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Did I really want to see Kevin Smith make a movie about making a movie happen again? Not really. That being said though, in the context of the movie itself, it worked very well for me and I didn’t feel like the movie was bogged down with that aspect, and actually ended up being a whole lot of fun.
Randal
Randal is the backbone of this story. After having a heart attack and surviving, he decides that he needs to make a movie based on his life. He recruits his friends around the Quick Stop and gets them all involved in making this low budget film. As the production continues Randal does get a bit lost in the making of his film and puts himself first, while putting a lot of the producing stressors (money, scheduling, running the production) on Dante.
***mild spoilers ahead***
While making the movie some of the subject matter of the film starts to take a toll on Dante and it is hard for him to relive this life that he has struggled in. This eventually leads into a very heated argument between the two in front of the whole crew. These two arguing is a staple in the Clerks series, always at some point Randal and Dante knock heads, but this one felt real, raw, and emotional and actually I got a bit teared up. But I felt that some of that was taken away due to some of the editing choices. I understand there are multiple people in the room and we wanna see their reactions, but to cut away from Dante and Randal at this time took me out of it for that split moment. This movie is about these two, I did not care about anyone else in the room in that moment.
***end of mild spoilers***
Elias
This character has his moment to shine but was overall a major distraction in this movie. In Clerks II, he was religious, but they focused more on his nerdy persona (such as the argument in Mooby’s about the best trilogy). Here, it seems like they dropped his whole nerd persona and only made him only religious. After feeling responsible for Randal’s heart attack, he loses faith in God and turns to Satan, which became progressively weirder and weirder for his arc. Each of his scene’s featured more and more ridiculous wardrobes, and while I understand that’s part of the joke, it got tired and annoying quick. Especially when he and Randal have a very serious talk towards the end of the movie, which I could not take seriously because Elias is standing there in corpse paint. It was so distracting and took me completely out of the moment losing the intended effect of that scene.
Jay and Silent Bob
I feel they didn’t add a whole lot to this, but it is always fun to see them and have them there. Also it was great seeing Silent Bob be the cinematographer shooting this “low budget” movie on a Red Camera, one of the top cameras out there.
***SPOILER WARNING!!! If you want to see this movie please STOP reading here. We’re going into heavy spoiler territory and I want everyone to have a chance to see it before it is spoiled for them.***
Dante and Becky
I cannot wait to re-watch this movie, because there were some choices here that really annoyed and upset me while watching it, but by the end, I understood those choices and felt better about them. Still didn’t love everything, but for this story, I understand why they were made. Again, final spoiler warning… okay?… Okay. I am so bummed out that Rosario Dawson’s character died very soon after Clerks II, in fact, it really upset me she’s gone. She was very much the heart of Clerks II and to find out she is dead, along with her and Dante’s unborn child put me in a bummed mood right from the start.
Throughout he would visit her grave or go by the restaurant they worked together in and she would show up as a spirit to talk with Dante. Those scene’s really annoyed me because I’m wondering, behind the scenes were they worried they weren’t going to be able to afford Rosario Dawson? And they decided to write her out and make her dead, and if they can afford her *then* they will get these scenes in there?
In the third act, where Dante and Randal get into their huge argument, it ends with Dante collapsing and having a heart attack himself. This puts a lot of guilt on Randal, where at first he only wants to finish the movie, he sees that he took his and Dante’s friendship for granted and wants to make it up to him. Randal recuts the movie to make Dante the lead and not himself, and sneaks into the hospital to be with Dante and show him the movie. Then we see Dante sitting in a theater watching the movie with Becky next to him which even now, I am tearing up just thinking about it. Dante and Becky leave the theater together, and even though this is such a happy moment for those two, it’s so sad at the same time because Dante is gone, he wasn’t as lucky as Randal.
This hit really hard for me, in part because I lost one of my best friends a few years back and it is hard to move on after that. With this final scene, I really sense that from Randal and his life moving forward without Dante. By the end, I understood the narrative choice of having Becky as a spirit and I forgave some of the frustration I had with it, because it does give this film a beautiful end.
***end of spoilers***
Closing
Even though this movie isn’t perfect, I can forgive a lot of it because of the fun to be had and how emotionally it hit me in the end. If you haven’t seen either of the previous Clerks films, definitely see those first. This movie won’t be for everyone, but if you are a Kevin Smith fan and enjoy his movies definitely check this one out. Or if you are new to him, all three Clerks films are great and this whole trilogy alone is a lot of fun and very satisfying, while also working well within the View Askewniverse as a whole.
I give this an 8 outta 10.
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